An Angel Garbed in Steel
by BZRich64
Summary: We've all been in this world for a very long time. I always thought that nothing would change. Then she came long.


The world is cold, stagnant. It has been for a very long time. Although I suppose that time is irrelevant at this point. We've been living in this long-dead world for longer than anyone could have imagined possible back in the old world. What was it called again? Cocoon? Gran Pulse? It's been so long that I can hardly even remember anymore.

I'm sure you're probably asking who I am. You shouldn't ask questions if you don't care about the answers. Besides, I couldn't tell you that even if I wanted to. No one called me by name in well over a century, not even myself. I don't even remember what it was at this point. I think most people here in the Warren have probably done the same, though I haven't really talked with anyone for quite some time. What would be the point?

I spend most of my time sitting up here on this roof, looking down at the people living in squalor down below. Not that I'm any better than them. I've seen everyone go through their daily routines, over and over again. There is no end here. Everyone just keeps on living, no matter how pointless it is or how long we've been here.

To be honest, I'm not sure who I pity more; the people down below living in eternal poverty, or the poor lonely sap who spends his time just looking down on those people. I would say that I had other things to do, but the sad truth is I didn't. My life had no meaning. I'm not sure that it ever did. Or at least, that's what I thought until _she_ showed up.

It all started a while back. Some cult calling themselves the Children of Etro started murdering women. They claimed that a woman calling herself the Savior would arrive and bring disaster with her, so they began killing anyone who matched what this 'Savior' was supposed to look like. Sounds like quite the oxymoron to me. Basically, any woman with pink hair was a target to them. I didn't really care at the time. After all, the dead are better off than the living at this point.

Not long after that, I was sitting here, where I always do, just watching the people down below. It seemed like a day just like every other day that had come before it. Beggars sat in the streets asking anyone who would listen for Gil. But of course, no one would listen. But that's when things changed. A woman I had never seen before showed up and started… talking to people. She went around the main courtyard, just talking to each person there and listening to their problems. She handed out Gil and items to the people who asked for hangouts. She offered to help those who had other problems going on in their lives.

At first, I felt sorry for the girl. Resources were always scarce, especially here in the Warren. I had seen countless people try to be generous and give what they had to those they felt were more in need, only to end up on the streets themselves the next day. Not to mention the fact that she was a perfect candidate to be one the Children of Etro's next victims. Chances were that she only had a few days left to live, at best, before being kidnapped and murdered by them. I thought that maybe that was why she was doing what she was doing, but there was something different about her. She hadn't been broken the way that the rest of us had. It was as if she hadn't been here for these centuries of stale decay that we've all had to suffer through.

After a few hours, she was gone. Returned to wherever it was that she came from. I tried to put her out of my mind. After all, I would never see her again after that. Either she would be killed or else she would have to flee the city for her life, never to return. But somehow I just couldn't stop thinking about her.

The next day, to my surprise, she was back. She went around again, talking to people and giving the handouts, apparently just trying to make everyone's lives a bit better. I was so astonished by this that, without even thinking about it, I followed her as she left the Warren. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see, but what came next certainly caught me off guard. It wasn't just the people of the Warren she was trying to help. She went around to everyone that she could, helping them out with whatever they needed. I had never seen anything like it before. Seeing this woman do everything that she could just to bring a little happiness to everyone around her filled me with a new sense of hope and purpose. If she could do it, so could I.

It's been about a week since then. I've been spending more and more of my time away from my spot on the roof, going out and actually doing some good in this eternal prison that we call the world. I never knew how good it felt to help people like this and to connect with them. And I owe it all to that pink-haired woman. I've heard quite a few rumors about her since then. Some say that she is the Savior. Some say that she's the one who went in and stopped the Children of Etro from killing any more women. The only thing I know for sure is that no one that I've asked has ever seen her around before now.

I want to reach out to her, talk to her. That's why I'm sitting here now, waiting for her to show up again. In fact, I think I see her now, coming in from the gate wearing that unusual armor of hers. My angel, garbed in steel.


End file.
